The Great Doris Day

Doris Day was one of the great singers, but never received the respect she deserved.

A few reasons for this come to mind. First, she was very good looking, so was invited to make movies while still singing with Les Brown, and turned out to have so much talent, she became famous as a film star.

While she kept making records - and was remarkably prolific at it, at least for 25 years or so - the quality of her material was distinctly variable. Will Friedwald notes that she deferred to Mitch Miller and husband Marty Melcher in repertoire. Both wanted the hits to keep flowing, so the likes of "Rickety Rackety Rendezvous" ended up on the music stands.

Still, there was considerable depth of feeling in her singing from the beginning. It shows clearly in her first hit, "Sentimental Journey" with Les Brown. (I've uploaded a V-Disc version of the song on my other blog, in company with all her other V-Discs.) In his incredible book A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers, Will quotes singer Mary Cleere Haran as saying, "She's so sunny and bright, but she's different when she sings. She can be dark and mysterious, and there's a wistfulness and yearning in her voice." When allied to her excellent intonation and superb rhythm, you have the makings of a superior singer. And that she was.

When Day started making movies, the
endorsements came rolling in. From 1949.

Day was prolific, but virtually all of her output is in print. So as a tribute, I decided to bring you some more unusual stuff - the 21 songs she recorded for Standard Transcriptions in about 1952. These are relaxed, swinging and altogether wonderful. What wasn't so wonderful was the sound on the bootleg that compiled them many years ago. I acquired it when it came out, and was dismayed to discover sound that was considerably off-pitch with the tonal balance wildly awry. Back then, while I could adjust those characteristics, it was a hit-and-miss proposition. I wasn't too happy with the results.

Today, I took another crack at the source material, and the resulting sound picture is much more pleasing. The pitch is spot on and the frequency response is very reasonable. The sound is now good enough for you to enjoy an excellent set of current songs in the compact renditions that were normal for radio transcription companies. [UPDATE: reader Mac gently suggested that far from being "spot on," I had the pitch wrong on this set. After listening, I am sure he is right. I didn't compensate enough! There is a link in the comments to the repitched version.]

The first 10 tunes were done with the Page Cavanaugh Trio, a favorite of this blogger, which has appeared here several times. One of Page's specialties was accompanying singers, and he does well here. The rest of the numbers were backed by orchestra or combo, all quite adequate. But the star is Doris' singing, as always.

I've also remastered a five-year-old post of songs from her 1951 film On Moonlight Bay. The download includes a promo disc that has Day introducing four of the songs, and offering opening and closing remarks. (I do love promos.)

Finally, as mentioned, I posted her 12 V-Discs, recorded both with Les Brown and under her own name. This is a treasurable collection with several rarities. It's now on the singles blog.

After listening, I only hope you enjoy Doris' singing half as much as I do.

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